Legacy Leaving

The closing on my purchase of a piece of land happened to be the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. This brought up some nostalgic feelings based on my ancestors’ history.

To keep it brief, there are two amazing people who not only impact me and my life, but the entire country as well.

Ten generations ago Samuel Fuller, age 8, born in 1612 took a voyage on a boat know as the Mayflower. He was orphaned in the first year after arriving in the new territory, when his parents Edward and Anna died. His uncle Samuel survived and was the colony surgeon and deacon of the church. Young Samuel later married Jane Lathrop and went on to have nine children.

My uncle Jack’s great great grandfather was general John A. Logan of the civil war and later went on to have a successful political career in the senate and congress and instituted Memorial Day as a national holiday.

Missing both of my parents on holidays is nothing new, yet is something to navigate nonetheless. It felt much more monumental when I began to contemplate those who came before me, what they lived through and the legacy they left for those who live after them. Sitting at the closing table, signing my name on official documents that deed the property in my name, brought all of these thoughts to a confluence.

I have been dreaming and working toward the ownership of a piece of land for at least a dozen years now. This land will become home, farm for Jackson Station, studio for Dancing Frog Press and Rockwell Art & Design, a place for three grandson’s to explore and grow and a legacy for me to pass down to as many generations as possible.

Sitting in Dick’s Pour house with five men after closing and drinking two shots of whiskey started the celebrations directly after the papers were signed. Later that evening, the family and I (Jackson, Raquel, Abraham and Levi) went to our ‘new home’ where we further celebrated with smoked fish, cheese, olives, pistachios, wine, sparkling lemonade and brownies. My good friend Anya Cobler wrote a beautiful letter that I read aloud to commemorate the auspicious moment. “God has brought you to this place–to “a spacious place…because he delighted in you”–and He is doing a new work in your lives.”